Fiona O'Loughlin (Kildare South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Brendan Smith for sharing time. We all remember the news bulletins and social media reports last year showing terrified men, women and children in Aleppo. We watched in horror as civilians were killed on the spot in their homes, as bombs rendered hospitals and schools out of service and thousands of people fled in search of safety. The fall of Aleppo demonstrated what happens when we fail to uphold international norms. All member states of the UN, including Russia and China, signed up to the responsibility to protect protocol in 2005, according to which individual states bear the primary responsibility to protect their own people from mass atrocity crimes. If a state fails to uphold this responsibility, as the Syrian Government has repeatedly done, then the other states have a moral and legal obligation to act.

The international community has failed the people of Aleppo. Now, less than a year since Aleppo fell, there is a major risk of other areas of Syria suffering the same fate at the hands of their own Government. In Idlib, for example, 2 million civilians, including many who fled in terror from Aleppo, are facing another major and indiscriminate offensive from the Syrian Government and its backers. The Irish Government must do all it can to prevent another Aleppo. The conflict in Syria, now in its seventh year, represents the worst humanitarian crisis of our time. Since the war began in 2011, more than 400,000 people have lost their lives, which is four times the population of my constituency of Kildare South. Approximately 5 million people have fled Syria, which is more than the total population of Ireland. In addition, 6.5 million are internally displaced and there are 13.5 million people in need of humanitarian assistance. Conditions in the country have been referred to as a living hell.

It is incumbent on all of us to voice our vehement opposition to such heinous crimes, oppose flagrant violations of international law and seek a sustainable and lasting resolution to this conflict, based on a political transition, a reconciliation process and a reconstruction process. The UN must regain centrality in the peace negotiations, for which it will require strong support from member states. The Government must do more, both publicly and privately, to support the Geneva process. We must make clear that the prominent role Russia now has brings not only influence but also responsibility.

Putin must first enforce UN Security Council Resolution 2254 on which he shook hands at the United Nations almost two years ago to ensure a ceasefire and grant humanitarian aid.

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